Related article:

Jele – who has two older children – lives with her parents and has lost faith that she will find employment. She moved to the site in an attempt to find a home for her family.

“We grew up here in Daveyton. If we are trying to find places for our children to live, we are abused. Why are we abused by the councillor like this?”

Resident Thabo Mohlala, 26, says that “as the youth, we don’t have jobs. We don’t have places to stay. Where can I get R30 000 for a stand when I don’t have a job?”

The future

Some in the group claim the councillor has hired “gangsters” to intimidate and stop them from erecting shacks.

“He has an army fighting with us, killing the very youth that is the future here … And when you look here, we are peaceful … All we wanted were houses,” says Sphiwe Mandlazi.

Mandlazi, 27, says he did it for his baby daughter. “We are not doing this because we like to, there is a reason. We need a place, there isn’t a person who doesn’t want a home,” he says.

Lucky Luphondo, 22, says up to eight people can live in one 10m x 10m shack.

“This has been our home since 1994, so if he authorises the killing of people … They are burning shacks. Why don’t they produce a document that says we are not supposed to be here?” asks Jele.

8 February 2019: Land occupiers erect a barricade after a confrontation with the Ekurhuleni metro police.

In memoriam

Jele is referring to the man after whom residents have named the land occupation, Steven Kau. Metro police allegedly shot and killed the 23-year-old man. His death has emboldened many to remain defiantly on the land now called Steve Kau Village.

“Steven’s blood gave us the licence to live here. We are not moving,” says one.

An elderly man who asks not to be named is concerned about the brutal force of the police, adding that it is shameful that such brutality continues after the struggle to end apartheid.

Related article:

“AboTata fought for democracy. Police used to kill us, the youth of 1976. It breaks my heart to see the police still killing people.

“They say people for the government and government for the people … Why must they take people’s belongings when they don’t provide people with what they want?” he frowns.

Residents say there have been fewer reports of crime and rape since they erected shacks on what used to be open veld.

“Children are raped here. There is a primary school here and the children raped live there,” says Mohlala, pointing to an adjacent field, “so they use this field as a shortcut to get home from school … People need to live here for this place to be safe.”

8 February 2019: Land occupiers rebuild their shack in Steve Kau Village after metro police knocked it down.

Municipal by-laws

EMPD media liaison officer Kobeli Mokheseng says there is no need for a court order to enforce municipal by-laws. He says the instruction to evict came from council officials.

“Each and every open or unoccupied land on municipality grounds belongs to the City of Ekurhuleni unless indicated by a visible sign that it is privately owned and, under our by-laws, no one is allowed to invade unoccupied or open or vacant land without following the right procedures,” he says.

ANC Ward 26 councillor Manqoba Sarila has refuted the group’s allegations, saying it is not the first time he has heard them.